Category: Looking Back

35 Years Ago in Free Inquiry “… the question of the sacrifice of innocent life in war … I find an extremely difficult problem. Temperamentally I am inclined to the simple view (to misquote one of the late Michael Flanders’s characters) that ‘killing people is wrong,’ but I have to recognize that, until mankind finds …

35 Years Ago in Free Inquiry “As humanists, surely we do not wish to develop according to the model of the classical religions. Though these religions have provided a social structure, a moral framework, and psychological comfort for their adherents, humanism is not and should not be a denomination or sect competing with others. We …

“The courage to doubt, on which American pluralism, federalism, and religious liberty are founded, is a special brand of courage, a more selfless brand of courage, than the courage of orthodoxy. A brand that has been far rarer and more precious in the history of the West than the courage of the crusaders or the …

“Western society has been deeply influenced by Christian doctrine, operating, as it has been, relatively unchallenged for most of the past two millennia. … [M]any of the destructive teachings of Christianity have shaped social attitudes in a variety of spheres and in ways that still adversely affect people, even those who never darken a church …